


She Gave Him Up

by clairedreems



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 09:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20561756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairedreems/pseuds/clairedreems
Summary: She wishes he'd understand.





	She Gave Him Up

He knows he shouldn't have said that. But they were out of his mouth before he could stop them. The thoughts have been festering ever since he returned. Fuelled by the rumors the servants say to each other - it was quite easy to believe.

She looks at him, terrified and angry at the same time. "How can you say that to me?”

He didn't expect the slap on his face. But he knows he deserves it.

"Do not dare say that to me again, do not  _ ever _ dare. I pleaded. To the Gods, to  _ you _ . I did not want to. But I  _ let you go _ . I  _ gave you up _ . Because was it not what you wanted? Was it not what the  _ Gods _ wanted?

His wife takes a moment - to try and compose herself, but failing miserably at it.

"Did you know? Just before your  _ glorious _ return - the night before the competition. I prayed to Artemis. To just kill me. I cannot bear the thought -... I am your wife. No matter what. I am your wife. Before and after and  _ always _ .

"Twenty years. Twenty years they keep telling me you have died. For twenty years I keep to myself. Praying. Hoping. That you'll come back  _ alive _ ."

"The woman who waited."

She smiles ruefully in return. “The woman who waits  _ still _ ,” she corrects. “You still do not think I am real, do you?”

He hesitates. She was right, of course. Everything -  _ everything _ still feels like a dream. Everything still feels like he would wake up on an island,  _ far _ away from home.

“I apologize.”

“I do not want your apology, Odysseus,” she replies sadly.

As he watches her leave, he wonders if this is how she felt, all those years. The last memory of him, and it’s him walking away from her.

He remembers, once, during his travels, someone had whispered to him, put a doubt on his mind.

_ It has been long _ , that someone said,  _ who is to say that she loves you still? _

And Odysseus had replied,  _ Because she knows. She  _ knows _ . Always knows that I am coming for her. Wherever she is. Always. _

Where had that faith gone now? He looks down at his hands - marred with war and worn out from traveling.

_ Where had that faith gone now? _


End file.
